Amazon is launching technical teams whose workers will only clock in for 30 hours a week. While plenty of employees at Amazon are part-time, the novelty here is that the teams are entirely made up of workers on a reduced schedule, including managers. The teams’ members will receive the same benefits as full-time employees, and 75% of a 40-hour workers’ pay.  There are currently 10 industrialized nations who have a shorter work week than the U.S.  The Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden are all either at, or experimenting with 30 hour work weeks while the average US employee works 47 hours.

The stated goal of the program is “to create a work environment that is tailored to a reduced schedule and still fosters success and career growth.” The initiative was accompanied by an event last week titled Reinventing the Work-Life Ratio for Tech Talent.

That reference to work-life balance highlights the possibility that that the testing of a lower-intensity schedule comes partly in answer to a damaging 2015 New York Times investigation into Amazon’s work culture. That report depicted the company as a challenging, even merciless place to work.

But this is about more than just one company’s culture. The idea of a work week of 30 hours or less also speaks to several large-scale issues around technology and employment. More and more voices are arguing that automation is lowering overall labor demand in the economy, a trend that will only increase. A 30 hour work week is seen by some as a way to more evenly distribute the shrinking pool of labor among workers, and reduce the potential of automation to increase income inequality.

It could also have a positive effect on womens’ employment and careers by making it easier to balance work with home and childcare obligations

Goldman Sachs this week put out an 88 page report stating 5 practical uses for blockchain. If you are not familiar with blockchain, at a time when companies face new challenges in data management and security, Blockchain is a way to let companies make and verify transactions on a network instantaneously without a central authority. Today, more than 40 top financial institutions and a growing number of firms across industries are experimenting with this technology as a secure and transparent way to digitally track the ownership of assets, a move that could speed up transactions and cut costs while lowering the risk of fraud.

The best known examples of Blockchain are Bitcoin and Ethereum. One bitcoin today is worth $550 and one Ethereum is about $14.00.

Goldman declared last December that blockchain technology can change everything.   This technology eliminates the need for costly middle men in financial transactions, but also presents plenty of other opportunities for new ways of record keeping and decentralising markets.

The bank has examined the technology’s application in 5 markets.

Firstly, the sharing economy. For example, Blockchain can build trust on platforms like Airbnb because you can store people’s online identities on the blockchain. That identity is then linked to reviews and scores on the sharing economy and other marketplace sites — a little like with Facebook.

People can easily check to see if you’re a trusted host by checking your ID number. But unlike Facebook, people can’t simply delete accounts and re-register if they get a bad rap as records on the blockchain can’t be tampered with or duplicated. Your identity is your identity.

Sites like Airbnb have already begun to transform the lodging industry by making a public market in private housing. However, adoption may be limited by concerns about safety and security by guests and property damage for hosts. By enabling a secure, tamper-proof system for managing digital credentials and reputation, Goldmans believe blockchain could help accelerate the adoption of P2P lodging. This is possibly a $9 billion industry.

The second market that can benefit from Blockchain technology is the electricity market. With the advent of rooftop solar and high-capacity battery technology, Blockchain can facilitate houses generating and selling their own electricity instead of having a central power provider sending electricity to everyone’s house and workplace. Goldman envisions a totally secure distributed network, built on blockchain’s identifying technology, that lets people generate their own electricity to sell on the network to strangers.

The fact that all transactions are signed off by the network means you can’t get screwed over by a customer who goes back and says they didn’t buy from you — it’s right there in the blockchain records.

This market is worth up to $7 billion.

The third market that can benefit from Blockchain technology is the property market where it can cut administration costs by keeping records so that prospective buyers can quickly, easily, and cheaply verify that the owner of a house really does own the place. At present, this process is done manually. Not only is that costly, there’s also a greater chance of errors, which could add to costs.

Goldman says that homeowners buying or re-financing property are subject to significant transaction costs, including title insurance, where the title search process can be labor-intensive. Along with business process changes, blockchain could reduce title insurance premiums… by reducing errors and manual effort. This could lead to $4 billion in savings.

The securities market can benefit from Blockchain technology by removing errors and reducing costs. Goldman says up to 10% of trades are subject to various errors, leading to manual intervention and extending the time required to settle trades.

By applying blockchain to the clearing and settlement of cash securities – specifically, equities, repo, and leveraged loans – Goldman estimates the industry could save $11 – $12 billion in fees, OpEx, and capital charges globally by moving to a shorter, and potentially customized, settlement window.

Finance is the fifth market that can benefit from Blockchain technology by improving anti-money laundering and “know your customer” checks.

Goldman envisions identity data stored on a blockchain could help finance firms easily and quickly check new customers as part of “know your customer” regulation — a bit like a digital passport.

Storing account and payment information in a blockchain could standardize the data required for an account, thereby improving data quality and reducing the number of falsely identified ‘suspicious’ transactions. The tamper-proof record could also ease the process of getting to know a client and demonstrating compliance with AML regulations. This could result in savings of $5 billion.

Just these five industry examples could result in around $40 billion in cost savings and benefits.

 

The majority of us use email marketing  these days. There are seven email marketing mistakes  that most people don’t realize that they are making . Marketers must stay ahead of the curve in order to reap the benefits of an email campaign. Despite emails being around for nearly 20 years, many marketers still make the same mistakes.

The first mistake is poor content. A poorly written email will damage your reputation, making it much more difficult to get respondents to open your emails again. Ask yourself a few questions about your email:

• is the content personalized for your target audience
• do you have a concise, engaging subject line
• is the subject line free from spamming type words
• is the email free of typos and grammatical errors
• if you are linking to an external asset have you included at least 2 to 3 links
• finally does the email provide value to your reader.

The second mistake is not having a call to action. Every message you send out should have a clear and concise mission. Maybe you driving traffic back to your website? Perhaps you are promoting a white paper or a trial download? Attracting attention for a web video or maybe engaging contacts for your sales team?

Your call to action, whether it be a link to a website, an email address or a downloadable action, should be placed in several areas throughout the message and should stand out from the rest of the email design.

The third mistake people make with their email marketing is in the design.

Email messages render differently in each mail client so be sure to test your design in a number of clients before sending it out. Avoid garish colors and fonts that are hard to read. Many email clients have images turned off by default, so don’t include any copy or call to actions in your images that are not also included in the body of your message

Your email design should be consistent with each message you send out. If you are planning to make changes, get the input of your subscribers first by testing your designs.

The fourth mistake in email marketing is partnering up with the wrong email service provider. This is the gateway to your audience so choose your ESP wisely. Sign on with the ESP that aligns with your business needs and your marketing goals and one that has the infrastructure to support your growth. A great ESP will have an excellent customer service reputation, be Can Spam compliant and offer a free trial, good reporting functionalities, list segmentation and the ability to A/B test.

The fifth mistake in email marketing is accurate data. Sending a well-crafted email marketing message to a poorly maintained database is just like burning your money. In today’s business world people don’t stay in the same position at the same company for as long as they used to. Your data needs to be cleaned and updated regularly to ensure that your database is accurate. Sending messages to emails that no longer exist can hurt your mailing reputation and damage your relationship with your ESP.

The sixth email marketing mistake is improper list segmentation. When it comes to emails, one size does not fit all. Sending one email to your entire database provides no value to your individual subscribers. By setting up segmentation rules and specific persona that your email content and design is targeting, you will see higher click through rates and more engaged customers.

The final mistake in email marketing is ignoring cadence. If you flood the inbox, your readers will unsubscribe and if you send too infrequently your readers will lose interest. When a subscriber opts into your email communications, be sure to set an expectation of how many messages they will be receiving. Above all, make sure each email message contains a strong call to action and provides value to the recipient.

By following these seven simple tips you will receive higher open and click through rates, a lower unsubscribe rate, and ultimately, more engaged sales ready customers.

Here are 5 reasons why your small business should use YouTube

An overwhelming number of businesses are now using social media marketing. However most businesses are still focusing on Facebook and Twitter while  ignoring probably the most effective vehicle of all, YouTube and other video sharing sites

Video provides an excellent opportunity for your brand to show off its products and connect with existing and potential customers as

many people would prefer to watch a video instead of reading a huge chunk of written information. And since more consumers are spending time online instead of watching TV, the popularity of videos online is growing exponentially.

Offering video is a great way to help attract visitors to your website and keep them engaged. Here are 5 reasons to start creating video content now:

Firstly, Creating original video content improves your SEO

Video is regularly shared via social media and email. So Google and other search engines tend to favor sites that offer it. Hosting video and images on your webpages will improve the overall quality of your site, as well as enticing visitors to stay longer. This in turns gives you a better chance of ranking higher than your competitors in search engine results.

The second reason for creating video content is because it is a powerful brand equity tool

Using videos to market your product helps to convey brand messages that would be lost if you were providing purely written information. Video allows for your brand to capture emotions and visual attributes of your product that leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Thirdly there is huge potential to get your message in front of a wide audience

Video is a highly shareable format – if you watch something that’s engaging, you’re likely to send it on to a friend, and that friend is also likely to pass it on to a wider audience. In this way, your video content has the potential to go viral and connect with a wide range of potential customers.

With content marketing like blog articles, your written content is rarely published in more than one place. Videos are much easier to syndicate via social media, industry websites and brand partnerships.

Fourthly video content is quite easy and inexpensive to produce

Many videos that have gone viral on YouTube have been produced using a webcam or camera phone with inbuilt recording facilities. Depending on how you want your brand to be perceived, it is easy to produce original, engaging and useful video content on a relatively small budget.

Finally, mobile plays better on mobile devices

Webpages accessed via mobile is growing rapidly. The great news is that all smartphones and other tablet devices are optimized for playing video content. Not only will this increase the ability for your video content to be seen, but it will also differentiate your business from competitors.

 “Asylum seekers who arrive by boat are illegals.”

It is not a crime to enter Australia without authorisation for the purpose of seeking asylum. Asylum seekers do not break any Australian laws simply by arriving on boats or without authorisation.

Article 31 of the Refugee Convention clearly states that refugees should not be penalised for arriving without valid travel documents. Australian and international law make these allowances because it is not always safe or even possible for asylum seekers to obtain travel documents or travel through authorised channels.

Permitting asylum seekers to enter a country without travel documents is similar to allowing ambulance drivers to exceed the speed limit in an emergency – the action may ordinarily be illegal but, in order to protect lives at risk, an exception is made.

“Asylum seekers are queue jumpers. They should apply through the proper channels, rather than applying onshore.”

This myth is based on misconceptions about how Australia’s onshore refugee program and the international refugee resettlement system actually work. Seeking asylum is not a way of “jumping the queue” or bypassing the “proper channel” for applying for protection. In fact, seeking asylum is standard procedure. Ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in countries of origin may prevent refugees from being able to return home safely.

It is not a matter of resettlement being the only “proper channel”, or even the preferred channel, through which to find protection – it is simply a different solution based on different circumstances. In fact, it doesn’t make sense to argue that refugees should apply for resettlement from overseas rather than seeking asylum, because seeking asylum is a prerequisite for resettlement.

Moreover, resettlement is the exception rather than the rule. There are currently 15.4 million refugees in the world but only around 85,000 resettlement places are available annually, meaning that less than one per cent of the world’s refugees are resettled each year. At this rate, it would take over 180 years for all of the world’s refugees to be resettled. Even for refugees who are in need of resettlement, there is no orderly resettlement “queue” to join. In reality, the resettlement system works more like a lottery than a queue.

“Asylum seekers take places away from refugees who are waiting patiently for resettlement overseas.”

Asylum seekers are not trying to rort the system or “jump the queue” – they have a right to seek asylum and Australia has a responsibility to process their claims.

Australia’s refugee program has two components – the onshore component, for people who or people who apply for refugee status after arriving in Australia; and the offshore component, through which Australia resettles recognised refugees and other people in need of protection and assistance from overseas. The onshore and offshore components are numerically linked, which means that every time an asylum seeker is recognised as a refugee and granted a visa, a place is deducted from the offshore program.

No other country in the world links its onshore and offshore programs in this way and Australia did not do this prior to 1996.

“Asylum seekers who arrive by boat are economic migrants.”

It is impossible to say one way or the other whether their protection claims are credible until they have been assessed. Historically, however, the vast majority of asylum seekers who have reached Australia by boat have been found to be refugees. According to figures compiled by the Australian Parliamentary Library, around 97 per cent have typically been found to be refugees. In 2012-13, 88 per cent of asylum seekers who arrived by boat were found to be refugees.

 “Tough border protection policies will save lives and stop people smugglers.”

Everyone agrees that we should stop people smuggling ventures which exploit asylum seekers and place them in danger. No one wishes to see asylum seekers board unreliable vessels and risk their lives to reach Australia. However, penalising desperate and vulnerable people, who have not committed any crime and are in need of protection and assistance, is not the answer. Policies which put people at risk, inflict harm on asylum seekers or deliberately impede access to effective protection are not acceptable ways of addressing the problem.

Australians should be proud that Australia has enjoyed an international reputation for respecting human rights . Attempting to change this reputation by treating asylum seekers inhumanely would make us little better than the countries from which they are fleeing.

In any case, the “push” factors that compel refugees to flee their homes will always be more compelling than the “pull” factors in countries like Australia. Refugee flows are primarily affected by war, unrest, violence and human rights violations. Most people do not wish to leave their homes, families, friends and everything they know and hold dear. They do so as a last resort.

“People who seek protection in Australia are ‘country shopping’. They could have stopped in other safe countries along the way.”

The countries which happen to be closest to a refugee’s country or origin or which are easiest for refugees to reach are not necessarily countries which are able or willing to provide effective protection.

In the Asia-Pacific region, for example, few countries provide effective protection to refugees and conditions for people seeking protection are very difficult. Many countries in the region have no domestic asylum process

“We need to discourage irregular movement so that we can establish an orderly asylum process.”

The idea that there is, or can be, an orderly process for seeking asylum ignores the reality that forced displacement is anything but orderly. When fleeing persecution, violence and human rights violations, refugees are most often not able to obtain travel documents or arrange travel through authorised channels. Moreover, Australia has very restrictive policies which work to prevent citizens of countries where persecution is widespread from getting access to temporary visas of any kind. These policies leave many people seeking to flee to Australia with no way of entering in an authorised manner.

 “Asylum seekers who arrive by boat are a security threat. They could be criminals or terrorists.”

The vast majority of asylum seekers who have reached Australia by boat have been found to be refugees. According to figures compiled by the Australian Parliamentary Library, in 2012-13, 88 per cent of asylum seekers who arrived by boat were found to be refugees.

It is very rare for a refugee to receive an adverse security assessment. Since 2009, ASIO has issued adverse security assessments to 63 refugees who arrived by boat. By contrast, between 2009-10 and 2011-12, 9,636 refugees who arrived by boat passed the security checks required for the grant of a Protection Visa. This means that fewer than one per cent of refugees who arrived by boat over this period received an adverse security assessment.

 “Asylum seekers who arrive by boat threaten Australia’s border security.”

Asylum seekers who arrive by boat without authorisation do not threaten Australia’s border security or the integrity of our immigration processes. This is not only because the numbers arriving are small compared to overall movement of people across Australia’s borders – 24,173 asylum seekers arrived in Australia by boat in 2012-13, while around 4.7 million permanent and temporary visas were granted  –  but also because asylum seekers arriving by boat are not trying to enter Australia unnoticed. On the contrary, they willingly present themselves to Australian authorities so that they will have a chance to apply for protection.

 “Australia is being swamped by asylum seekers.”

Compared to other refugee-hosting countries, Australia receives a very small number of asylum applications. In 2012, Australia received 29,610 asylum applications, just 1.47 per cent of the more than two million claims lodged across the world through individual application and group recognition processes. Moreover, the number of people granted permanent residency under Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program is well under one-tenth of Australia’s annual migration intake.

In 2013, 20,587 asylum seekers arrived in Australia by boat. In 2012, a large number of countries had vastly greater boat arrivals, for example,  Yemen had 107,500 people and 385,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Turkey. Moreover, all of these host countries are far less wealthy than Australia. Turkey has a GDP per capita of around $US11,800, Yemen just over $US1,500 and Cameroon around $US1,300, compared to Australia’s GDP per capita of close to $US70,900.

 “Australia takes more than its fair share of refugees.”

The overwhelming majority of the world’s refugees are residing in the developing world in countries neighbouring their own. At the end of 2012, Pakistan was hosting over 1.6 million refugees, Iran was hosting 868,242 and Kenya was hosting 564,933 – dwarfing the 13,750 refugees granted permanent residency by Australia each year. In 2012,

“Refugees should only be granted temporary protection until it is safe for them to go home.”

Temporary protection can sometimes be used to meet urgent protection needs in exceptional circumstances. For example, temporary protection may be granted to asylum seekers during a mass influx situation, to allow time for their applications to be assessed individually on a case-by-case basis. However, temporary protection should not be considered a substitute for refugee status and should never be applied arbitrarily without regard for the conditions in a refugee’s country of origin.

UNHCR states a refugee remains a refugee unless their status is terminated by their own actions (e.g. through voluntary repatriation) or if there has been fundamental, durable and comprehensive change in their country of origin which allows them to return home safely.

 “If someone can afford to pay a people smuggler thousands of dollars to travel to Australia, they cannot be a ‘genuine’ refugee.”

Economic status has no impact on refugee status. A refugee is someone who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. It makes no difference whether a refugee is rich or poor – the point is that they are at risk of, or have experienced, persecution.

Most refugees who come to Australia are educated middle-class people whose advocacy work, political opinions or profession (e.g. journalists, lawyers) has drawn them to the attention of the authorities and resulted in their persecution.

“Refugees and asylum seekers receive higher social security payments than Australian age pensioners.”

A refugee who has permanent residency in Australia receives exactly the same social security benefits as any Australian citizen or eligible permanent resident in the same circumstances. Refugees apply for social security through Centrelink like everyone else and are assessed for the different payment options in the same way as everyone else.

“Charity begins at home. We should be helping disadvantaged Australians first, rather than refugees and asylum seekers.”

Solving problems such as poverty and homelessness is not simply a matter of resources. The most significant barriers to addressing these problems are often structural issues, such as discrimination, lack of political will and the way government systems work. Unless these barriers are addressed, such problems will be very difficult to resolve even if there are plenty of resources available.

Organisations – such as Anglicare, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Life Without Barriers, Lutheran Community Care, the Salvation Army, the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, St Vincent de Paul Society and UnitingCare – work directly with some of the most disadvantaged people in Australia. They also support fair and humane policies towards refugees and asylum seekers. It is very telling that these organisations clearly do not see helping disadvantaged Australians and helping refugees and asylum seekers as being mutually exclusive.

It is also important to note that refugees are not simply a “drain” on resources. In fact, people from refugee backgrounds and their descendants make important contributions to Australia’s economy and society.

“Refugees don’t contribute to Australian society in any meaningful way.”

Research has shown that refugees, once they have the opportunity to establish themselves, make important economic, civil and social contributions to Australian society. Australia’s refugees and humanitarian entrants have found success in every field of endeavour, including the arts, sports, media, science, research, business and civic and community life. Former refugees are very entrepreneurial, being more likely to set up their own businesses than other migrant groups. They play an important role in facilitating the development of trade and other links with their countries of origin. Former refugees value the education of their children very highly, with the proportion of young refugees attending an educational institution being higher than other migrants and even than people born in Australia. They make substantial social contributions to Australia through volunteering, promoting community development and engaging in neighbourhood activities and events.

Just some of the many Australian high achievers who once were refugees include scientists Sir Gustav Nossal and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, 2009 Victorian of the Year Dr Berhan Ahmed, painter Judy Cassab, comedian Anh Do, filmmaker Khoa Do, author Nam Le, academic Associate Professor My-Van Tran, Dr Anita Donaldson, poet Juan Garrido-Salgado, painter and restaurateur Mirka Mora, actor Henri Szeps, broadcasters Les Murray and Caroline Tran, Australian Rules footballer Alex Jesaulenko, footballer Atti Abonyi, swimmers John and Ilsa Konrads, newspaper editor Michael Gawenda, architect Harry Seidler, business people Sir Peter Abeles, Larry Adler, Ouma Sananikone and Judit Korner, public servant Tuong Quang Luu and politicians Jennie George and Nick Greiner.

By definition, refugees are survivors. They have survived because of their courage, ingenuity and creativity. These are qualities, which we value in Australia. If we assist newly arrived refugees to recover from the experiences of their past and rebuild their lives in Australia, we will reap the benefits of the qualities and experiences they bring to our society.